American among civilians killed in Russian attack in Ukraine; No UN vote on Russia's derided resolution

The State Department confirmed on Thursday that an American citizen was killed in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.

The department did not immediately confirm the identity of the American, who was at least the second US citizen to be killed in the conflict, after the killing of journalist and filmmaker Brent Renaud last week.

Chernihiv police said on Facebook there was a heavy artillery attack on the city and a US citizen was among the civilians killed.

In Chernihiv, a city north of Kyiv, the capital, at least 53 people had been brought to morgues over the past 24 hours, killed during heavy Russian air attacks and ground fire, the local governor, Viacheslav Chaus, told Ukrainian TV on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Russia's U.N. ambassador says he is not asking for a vote Friday on its resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, which has been sharply criticized by Western countries for making no mention of Russia's responsibility for the war against its smaller neighbor.

Vassily Nebenzia told the U.N. Security Council Thursday that Russia decided at this stage not to seek a vote because of pressure from the United States and Albania on U.N. members to oppose it, but he stressed that Moscow is not withdrawing the resolution.

Nebenzia said Russia plans to go ahead with a council meeting Friday to discuss again its allegations of U.S. biological laboratories in Ukraine with claiming new documents. His initial charge was made without any evidence and repeatedly denied by U.S. and Ukrainian officials.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield responded to Nebenzia's announcement by saying their farcical humanitarian resolution ... was doomed to fail.

We know if Russia really cared about humanitarian crises, the one that it created, it could simply stop its attacks on the people of Ukraine, she said. But instead, they want to call for another Security Council meeting to use this council as a venue for its disinformation and for promoting its propaganda.

At last Friday's council meeting on Russia's initial allegations of U.S. biological activities, Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of using the Security Council for lying and spreading disinformation as part of a potential false-flag operation by Moscow for the use of chemical or biological agents in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he held a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss France's support for Ukraine.

(with agency inputs)